It was left to Domagoj Duvnjak to lift the silver bowl first. Once again. It is not an unfamiliar sight that the captain of the Kiel handball team heralds the celebrations for the German championship with this symbolic act: record champions THW Kiel collected their 23rd title on Sunday evening. Everything as usual, great boredom? Not at all, because the fact that five teams were able to figure out chances of winning the title well into the second half of the season can be considered unique. Ten games before the end of an immensely demanding season, the Kielers were listed in third place – and by no means exuded the sovereignty that had so often led them to the title.
However, the big players in their ranks increased at the right time, which is why they stretched the nose over the finish line in the season finale in front of defending champion SC Magdeburg. After the easy 34:27 victory at Frisch Auf Göppingen, the lead was finally two points and a goal difference that was 29 goals better. The dethroned Magdeburg can still win the king’s title in the final tournament of the Champions League in a week – the THW, on the other hand, failed in the quarter-finals of the king’s class. The days when one club dominated events seem to be over for good, because the team from Kiel were thrown out of the cup prematurely – at home by Magdeburg. The Rhein-Neckar Löwen secured the cup in a final that was hard to beat in terms of class and excitement after throwing seven meters, against the Sachsen-Anhaltiner.
Kiel has to say goodbye to prominent players
But in addition to the new champion, the defending champion and the cup winner, there were two other serious contenders for the championship trophy. For a long time, the Berlin foxes were well on the way to the national title, which, given the quality in the Handball Bundesliga (HBL), is the most valuable in the international Comparison. After all, the Berliners celebrated victory in the European League at the Final Four in Flensburg, which would be the loser of the season: SG Flensburg-Handewitt had traveled to the final cup tournament in Cologne with a series of 21 unbeaten games in all competitions, where they later winner lost after a poor performance in the semi-finals. A defeat like a hammer blow that knocked the cup favorites off course: First, a painful ten-goal defeat in the north derby in Kiel ended the chances in the title race, then Flensburg, as the organizer, gambled away the participation in the final tournament of the European League, which was booked as certain with another indisputable performance in the quarter-finals – and finally dismissed coach Maik Machulla.
Don’t expect this season’s tremendous excitement to remain an attractive outlier to the upside. On the one hand, the THW has to say goodbye to prominent players: above all the two-time world handball player Niklas Landin. The 34-year-old led Denmark to their third consecutive world title in January and will now return home. There he joins second-placed Aalborg in the championship, who want to attack the Champions League next season thanks to subsidies worth millions, for which, in addition to Landin, world-class players Mikkel Hansen (from Paris) and Aaron Palmarsson (from Barcelona) were brought in.
Sander Sagosen is also moving back home, he is going to his Norwegian hometown club Kolstadt.
(Photo: Thomas Haesl/Eibner/Imago)
Playmaker Sander Sagosen will also join a similar, well-funded project at his Norwegian hometown club Kolstadt. Kiel thus loses two players with a difference with the rating “unreplaceable”, whose special quality is to call up the best performance in decisive moments – which they impressively demonstrated in the final spurt of the season. Mihai Zarabec, playmaker for the Slovenian national team (moving to Polish Champions League club Plock), will also leave a gap, while right winger Yannick Fraatz is returning to Bergisches HC after a loan.
However, the bloodletting does not have to cause the master excessive worries, Kiel has the best squad in terms of width. In addition, French Olympic champion Vincent Gerard has already been confirmed as Landin’s successor. It is rather worth considering that the competitors have not only demonstrably shortened the gap, but are also working on overtaking the people from Kiel.
For national players, the stress is so great that it often leads to injuries
Especially the battered Flensburgers: In addition to Kay Smits from Magdeburg, probably the best player of the past season, world champions Simon Pytlick and Lukas Jörgensen as well as coach Nicolej Krickau have a Dane package from champion GOC Handbold. Berlin, Magdeburg and the Rhein-Neckar-Löwen not only keep their top-class squads together to a large extent, but also strengthen them selectively. This also promises excitement for the coming season and guarantees that the Bundesliga will remain the measure of all things in world handball, despite all the projects and top clubs like Barcelona or Paris. Kiel and Magdeburg will again represent HBL in the Champions League, while Flensburg, Rhein-Neckar Löwen and Berlin will play in the European League.
Because the foxes won the title in the second highest international competition, which in the past 20 years has not gone to a Bundesliga club three times, TSV Hannover-Burgdorf will also be represented there. No other country has so many clubs in international business, and clubs like the financially strong MT Melsungen, the former Champions League winner HSV Hamburg or the revitalized VfL Gummersbach are pushing into the limelight. For all its attractiveness, however, the biggest problem lies in the enormous quality of the league: Because the top teams consist almost exclusively of national players, they are exposed to brutal strains, from which all clubs have had to suffer.
That was easy to see at Kiel’s last appearance in Göppingen: Sweden’s Eric Johanssen and Steffen Weinhold were standing in the hall in civilian clothes, the two internationals have been out injured for a long time.
